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50 J?J YS OF POSfTlWE ELECTRICITY

of the mercury atom loses one corpuscle, by the

eight The evidence for this is as follows: let us suppose

for a atoms with any charges from one to eight

produced by the ionlzation of the atoms of mercury in the

tube, and consider what effect this would have on

the parabolas corresponding to the mercury atom with one

charge. This would be due to atoms of the following kinds :—

Atoms which had lost

(1) 8 corpuscles In the discharge tube and regained 7 subsequently.

(2) 7 » i* » » »> ⁶

(3) 6 »» »» »» " » 5 n

and so on : the last member of the series being atoms which
had lost one corpuscle on ionization and had not regained it

The parabola seen on the plate would be due to the super-
position of the eight parabolas due to these different types of
atoms. The head of each of these parabolas would be separated
from the head of any of the others: if a? were the horizontal de-
flection of the one due to the atom which had only lost one
corpuscle in the discharge tube, d/2, dfe, d\^ d/5, d/6₉ df?₉ dj$
would be the horizontal deflection of the heads of the parabolas
due to the atoms which had lost 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 respectively.
Thus the resultant parabola would for the part which had a
horizontal deflection between d\% and dfr consist only of the
parabola due to atoms of class (i); the part when the hori-
zontal deflection was between d\j and dj6 would consist of two
parabolas due to the atoms of classes (i) and (2) ; the part with
the horizontal deflection between dj6 and dl$ would be made up
of the three parabolas corresponding to the atoms belonging
to classes (i), (2), (3), and so on. Thus at the distance dJ7, d/6,
dj$₉ rf/4, if/3, d}2 and dji we should expect an abrupt increase in
the brightness of the curve, for at each of these places a new
parabola is added to the old ones ; the intensity of the curve
would thus not vary continuously but would have a beaded



	50 J?J YS OF POSfTlWE ELECTRICITY of the mercury atom loses one corpuscle, by the eight The evidence for this is as follows: let us suppose for a atoms with any charges from one to eight produced by the ionlzation of the atoms of mercury in the tube, and consider what effect this would have on the parabolas corresponding to the mercury atom with one charge. This would be due to atoms of the following kinds :— Atoms which had lost (1) 8 corpuscles In the discharge tube and regained 7 subsequently. (2) 7 » i* » » »> ⁶ (3) 6 »» »» »» " » 5 n and so on : the last member of the series being atoms which had lost one corpuscle on ionization and had not regained it The parabola seen on the plate would be due to the super- position of the eight parabolas due to these different types of atoms. The head of each of these parabolas would be separated from the head of any of the others: if a? were the horizontal de- flection of the one due to the atom which had only lost one corpuscle in the discharge tube, d/2, dfe, d\^ d/5, d/6₉ df?₉ dj$ would be the horizontal deflection of the heads of the parabolas due to the atoms which had lost 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 respectively. Thus the resultant parabola would for the part which had a horizontal deflection between d\% and dfr consist only of the parabola due to atoms of class (i); the part when the hori- zontal deflection was between d\j and dj6 would consist of two parabolas due to the atoms of classes (i) and (2) ; the part with the horizontal deflection between dj6 and dl$ would be made up of the three parabolas corresponding to the atoms belonging to classes (i), (2), (3), and so on. Thus at the distance dJ7, d/6, dj$₉ rf/4, if/3, d}2 and dji we should expect an abrupt increase in the brightness of the curve, for at each of these places a new parabola is added to the old ones ; the intensity of the curve would thus not vary continuously but would have a beaded